Obviously, it's still a work in progress, not close to finished yet, but I really wanted to upload it for Valentine's Day, as my gift to the fangirls.. Well, those who will like the portrait anyway.. So here it is!There's still a lot of work to do.. The ear, the mouth, his left eye (), the armor, the hand, the chubby neck, everything..

If you're wondering, he's holding a bow on his shoulder.. It's very hard to get the right effect though..

Tons of thanks to all the people who provide tips and suggestions. It helps me so much! As always, constructive criticism is appreciated.

This sexy bastard doesn't get enough fan-art! It's so true! Good thing I heard there's a mod for Skyrim coming out that makes Bishop a follower and indepth romance option. It's supposed to come out within a month. I'm super excited! I love your art please make more of Bishop!

This is a really old piece, back when I didn't even know how to paint..

I love Bishop, he's a great character. I should paint him again. I'm in The Army and I don't have a whole lot of free time, but if you'd be willing to help me find good screenshots and pictures of actors that look like him, I might actually try my hand at painting him again.

Nice work, the smirk is priceless. Though it is unfinished, I must say that your work is the one which is closest to the looks of Bishop. A little more work here and there and I think it will be fine. Maybe for the next Valentine's Day which will be in 2010?

I'm glad you think he looks like the character. It's not easy to paint video games characters since they are only interpretations of people (of what the developers want their characters to look like) and their features are not clearly defined. It's even less easy when the characters have a lot of fans who don't like your version of that particular character because they envision him/her differently.

My goal is realistic painting, I love trying to make those characters look more realistic, and that's not of everybody's taste (for example, Bishop has a big nose, so if I want to paint him realistically, I'll have to paint him with a big nose, and fangirls will probably not like me for that..)

A lot happened since I did that piece actually, I lost my pen (for my tablet) when I moved in June 2008 and didn't buy another one until August this year, and when I started painting again, in a short time my style changed quite a bit. For the moment, I'm trying to improve so I don't only use one single technique, I try stuff out, I practice a lot. I value constructive criticism too since it helps me correct mistakes and improve my overall skill. Don't hesitate to critique my work.

I don't think I can just finish this, I'll probably have to start it over, my technique has changed too much. But fear not, I love painting, and I believe I improve every time I paint so I'll end up finishing a painting of him, whatever it is. I take suggestions too!

You're right when you are saying that it is a hard thing to paint game characters. I always say that every work related to them are fingerprints of people's personal visions about the given character. For example my digital painting of Lucien Lachance is far more different than any other fan art I"ve ever seen about him. We people are very different and it has effects on our works.

I like the fact that you are trying to achieve realistic painting! I can't imagine Bishop with a small nose (that's gross) and without a wide chin...that would be not him. He has rough features but they fit him well. If I were you, I wouldn't care about anyone's opinion- the only thing that matters is your opinion about your own art.

I think that your work needs much more shading, even wrinkles in the corner of the eyes and the mouth. Other than that, I don't think this painting has any problem.

The whole pose and expression is perfect- I wouldn't change that. Bishop deserves a worked out portrait and you are on the best way to do just that. ^_^

This painting needs a lot done, the hand and armor are incomplete, the bow is ugly, the mouth is wrong, the eyes need some work and the nose and ears have to be finished. And you're right, wrinkles, shading and highlighting will make it look more natural.

I'm sure I can do that, when I'm done reformatting my computer, I'll reinstall Photoshop and give it a try.

I really like his mouth- it needs some toning and it will be perfect. That smirk is very Bishop-like that's why this piece is going to be very good. Other fans never draw him smirking or scowling which is strange because it goes well with his personality.

You've made progress! The armor looks much better than your first draft, well done. Perhaps you could add harder highlights to the metal parts to make them look more metallic, but then again I've got no experience with paintig metal myself, that's just what I heard from tutorials and the like.With the armor and the background, the picture looks much more finished already, I think.The feathers on the arrow look very good!

I think I really have to play through BGI now, so I can get to BG II. I've got both games lying around here somewhere, but I haven't played them yet, and I have no experience with mods and the like. Now I have one more reason to attend to this subject.

I actually had not worked on the armor at all in the first draft. It's really not finished yet but I need to do so many things, and there are not enough hours in a day..

You know, I never actually finished BG1.. lolBut I've finished BG2 many times, it's my favorite game, I just love the story. There's much space for modding in it. If you're interested in the mod, and in helping me shape a better Bishop for it, I'll be posting some dialogues in my scraps, to discuss the general attitude and style of Bishop. I wouldn't want to stray too far from his actual character.

But you should definitely play both BG, they are very good games, they're the old 2D generation of games, but that's what I like about them, because you cannot actually see what the characters are doing so it's all done through dialogues, and it leaves a great place for imagination and suggestion.

I've heard that BG has a great story and great companion interactions from many people, which is the reason I decided to try it some times ago. I started with BG1, but I've not yet experienced those companion interactions. Am I missing something or is that only in BG2? The story looks pretty interesting though, even if I haven't gotten very far - not enough time. I'm struggling a bit with the older D&D rules, too, since they're not familiar to me.

Oh I usually don't worry about the rules, I just do the quests.. lolThe only different thing I see is the fact that back in those days your armor class had to go down, instead of up, so it was better if it was -3, definitely bad if it was 10.

In BG, there are no romances, but there are a lot of interactions between the characters in the group, and actually, they can even start fighting when they really hate each other. The romances are only in BG2.However, there are a great number of mods available, and there is one for BG that adds romance with a bunch of characters from the game. I always prefer to play with mods, and BG2 is certainly one of the games with the most mods around.

BG1 and 2 constitute an extremely long story, so if you want to play through the game, it will probably take you a long time, especially if you're busy with other things too. But it's still worth it, BG2 is my favorite game, and I'll sing its praises forever!

I don't care about the rules that much, either, but the armor class really confused me for a while. There are some things with the character's stats that still confuse me, but I've decided to simply ignore them. But compared to the NWN series and most other RPGs I've played, you die awfully fast, which can be a little frustrating.

I've actually had Minsc attacking me when I didn't help him free that mage (forgot her name) fast enough. I was already in the gnoll stronghold when he suddenly complained, and then he went berserk on me ...

I've tried the romance mod, but for some reason it refused to install properly and then, after a few attempts, blew up my game, so I guess I did something seriously wrong there. I've not touched any mods since then ...

It's true in BG you die really fast, not so much in BG2 though. In BG you start the game with like 4 health points.. Took me a while to pass the first area outside of Candlekeep without dying.. lol

And yeah I had the same thing happen with Minsc, it's the problem of BG, time matters, it's one of the reasons I never finished the first game and just played through the second one.. I know the story, and that's sufficient (I read the books.. lol) but I promised myself to play through BG one day, with the romance mod installed.

About the romance mod for BG, it is particular, it only works with a certain type of installation of the game. You must have BG and its add-on (Tales of the Sword Coast), as well as BG2 all installed, then download a specific mod that makes it all one single game. I know it's complicated.. I never had the add-on to BG so that's why I never actually played the romance mod for it.

Not for the main quest, only for certain characters' side quests like Minsc's quest to find Dynaheir.

In fact, now that I think about it, there are also quests where time matters, like when Nalia asks you to go clean up the monsters in her keep, if you don't go, she asks you like twice if you're gonna do it or not, then she leaves.

Haha no worries! The thing is, when I uploaded it yesterday I couldn't sleep.. I was so certain I'd shock people and get negative feedback. Glad you like it then!

My vision of Bishop is of a rather unkempt and bloody individual.. It's good though, cause there's a tradition in the Baldur's Gate 2 romance mods: the bath! Taking a bath with Bishop.......................................

I must say again that you've done really well with what was available! The hand turned out ok, the smaller finger looks like it should bend a bit instead of sticking over the bow... but yeah, I can see you really taking off with this kinda thing! BG is pretty good too.

The hand is still very ugly, and the shading's all wrong all over.. But working on this portrait made me learn so much in such a short time! Now I know I can do it, just need loads of practice, and that reassures me quite a bit.

ooo....Bishop.....*drools all over the place*I'm loving the results so far, especially the way he sort of glances at you while smirking..My only problem with the whole pic would be his mouth, and a bit on his eyes. While the mouth, being more aligned to the left because he's smirking, somehow I got the impression that the -whole- mouth is a little bit too the left. Maybe you could try placing the centre of his lips right beneath his nose. The eyes problem has been brought up nicely by Aisling :3

But all in all, it's a lovely portrait...and just a little suggestion, if you're going to make this an in-game portrait, perhaps you could make a version with a lighter background? because most of the in-game portaits for BG2 has this sky-ish look with light colors. Just a thought.

And finally, I can't wait for the mod to be finished!! X3...I was really excited when I read your artist's comment. A bishop mod for BG2!! *swoons* I hope everything's going on well with its progress :3 If you'd ever need a beta or anything, it will be my honor to serve